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Strive Roots

Sound description

Aggressive rock with heavy reggae influences -- think Bob Marley and the Wailers, if their guitarist was Dimebag from Pantera. Their sound is a blend of metalesque screaming guitar riffs, driving, upbeat rhythms, and subsonic bass lines.

RIYL

Primus, Pantera, Bob Marley, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Led Zeppelin, Ben Harper, Horse the Band, the Deftones, Atmosphere, Sublime, Long Beach Dub All-Stars, Frank Zappa

Inception

San Diego , 2003

Current Status

Playing around town and doing occasional national tours.

Influences

Bob Marley, Tool, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pantera , System of a Down, 311, NoFX, Jimmy Eat World, Pennywise, Metallica, Rage Against the Machine, Incubus, Godsmack, Primus, Steele Pulse, Slightly Stoopid, Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Bad Brains, Sublime

Discography

Ex-Band Members

Mike McBride:
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When 19-year-old snowboarder Hannah Teter won the gold at the 2006 Winter Olympics, the song playing during her halfpipe run -- “Communicate” -- was by locals Strive Roots, whose singer/guitarist Eli Lieberman was dating her. “We got 150,000 hits on the website within a few hours of the Olympics and could have sold a ton of downloads,” he says, “but the record just wasn’t ready in time. We’re not business guys, we’re musicians, and we just didn’t have the money to pull it off, so the record wasn’t pressed until a few weeks later.”

He says iTunes managed to post the track for sale online, but not until two weeks after the Olympic exposure. “It’s a kick in the ass that we didn’t have anything on the website, not even credit cards, when all those people were looking for [the song].”

Lieberman says the band’s name was originally just Strive, but “A couple of Christian rock bands took the name after we did. We’re self-managed and self-produced so, instead of making a big legal deal about it, we just changed our name to Strive Roots.”

The band tours in Leiberman’s 1995 Ford Cummins Diesel, which is converted to be veggie-fueled. As of 2009, the lineup is Lieberman, drummer Chris Pollock, sax player Seth Hall (Planting Seeds, Lavish Green), and bassist Chad Davis (Ninja Slaughterhouse).

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4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
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